Mary Blair

Mid-Century Cigarette Ad Illustration

ca 1955

E. Simms Campbell was the first African-American illustrator/ cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick magazines, he created Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire. This early work of 1930 was done on assignment for an interior page of Life Magazine. It features two Rowing teams engaged in spirited competition with cheering onlookers. This is a highly stylized black-and-white illustration and is masterfully executed. The work is composed of two illustrations, 6 x 9 inches and 2-3/4 x 2 inches respectively. It is initialed center bottow ESC. unframed Campbell left the University of Chicago and transferred to and received his degree from the Chicago Art Institute.[3] Professional career During a job as a railroad dining-car waiter, Campbell sometimes drew caricatures of the train passengers, and one of those, impressed by Campbell's talent, gave him a job in a St. Louis art studio, Triad Studios. He spent two years at Triad Studios before moving to New York City in 1929. A month afterward, he found work with the small advertising firm, Munig Studios, and began taking classes at the National Academy of Design.During this time, he contributed to various magazines, notably Life, & Judge Following the suggestion of cartoonist Russell Patterson to focus on good girl art, Campbell created his "Harem Girls", a series of watercolor cartoons that attracted attention in the first issue of Esquire, debuting in 1933. Campbell's artwork was in almost every issue of Esquire from 1933 to 1958 and he was the creator of its continuing mascot, the cartoon character in a silk top hat. He also contributed to The Chicagoan, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The New Yorker, Playboy, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, Pictorial Review, and Redbook. His commercial artwork for advertising included illustrations for Barbasol, Springmaid, and Hart Schaffner...

Enter the whimsical world of famed children's book illustrators husband and wife team Alice and Martin Provensen. On top of a heavy tree trunk sits a...

This Harry Beckhoff illustration is masterfully rendered and intricately designed in line and wash. It's as abstract as it's representational with its graphic style, clean lines, and flat patterning. Every element in the composition works in harmony without a line out of place. The flat and abstract nature of the work rivals that of the great modernist painters of the 1930s. Perhaps this was done for a major newsstand magazine like Collier's. Although he studied with Dean Cornwell and Harvey Dunn, he didn't pursue the style of painterly brushstrokes and impastos. Instead, he defined his forms with flat shapes, whose internal forms are defined by thin lines. The emphasis is more on silhouette and line than it is on texture and lighting. Beckhoff also described his work as having been influenced by illustrators like Pierre Brissaud...

Legendary Graphic designer Paul Rand was also a Fine Artist/Painter. In the present work, " Untitled: Asian Calligraphic Shapes Over Biomorphic Forms," Paul explores the relationship...

Abstract Still Life c/1935-1945) Gouache and watercolor on paper 17 3/4" x 24" 21 1/2" x 27 1/2" x 1 1/4" framed Signed "E Cory" lower right.

Xiao Wen Xu is a Chinese-born Canadian artist based in Toronto, Canada, Her artistic practice is deeply influenced by her profound appreciation for the natural world. In her series, ...

Xiao Wen Xu is a Chinese-born Canadian artist based in Toronto, Canada, Her artistic practice is deeply influenced by her profound appreciation for the natural world. In her series, ...

'Untitled No. 1' by Thomas Guise, 1967. Royal Society of Artists, Edinburgh Academy, Palo Alto ----- Signed lower right, 'T.G.M. Guise' for Thomas Gladstone Middleton Guise (Scottish, 1916-1984) and dated 1967. Previously with: Los Robles Gallery, Palo Alto, California. Thomas Guise studied art at Edinburgh College of Art under Thomson Adam Bruce, RSA (1947-1949) before serving with the Royal Artillery between 1939 and 1946. After returning to Scotland, Guise began working professionally as an artist and commenced his fruitful association with the Featherhal Press. Over the course of his career, he was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards including the Award for Life Drawing (1947). Guise exhibited internationally with success and was a member of the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolor among others. Accompanied by an artist catalogue, 'T.G.M. Guise: Propinquity', Featherhall Press Limited, Edinburgh 1996. Selected Group Shows 1948 - 1984: RBA, RSA, RI, RSW, RGI, SSA, NEAC. Arun Art Centre The Bath Festival Exhibition Selected Solo Shows: 1966 - Randolph Gallery, Edinburgh Festival 1967 - Encina Gallery Stanford University, California, United States 1968 - Los Robles Gallery, Palo Alto, California, United States 1968 - Randolph Gallery Edinburgh Festival 1970 - Clarkson Gallery, Victoria Street...